Four types of passives in Japanese and their cross-linguistic implications

• Four types of passives can logically be derived from the mechanisms of subject demotion and object promotion. • Free Merge allows passive morphemes to merge with the main verb (V), little v, or [V-v], resulting in distinct passive forms. • Canonical passives involve both subject demotion and object promotion, whereas non-canonical passives involve either subject demotion, object promotion, or neither. • Passive morphemes may also function as lexical verbs, in which case neither subject demotion nor object promotion occurs. • All four passive types are attested in Japanese. This paper examines how the variety of so-called “passive constructions” can be viewed in terms of subject demotion and object promotion. I propose that four types of passives may logically exist due to possible combinations of the two independent operations: (i) both subject demotion and object promotion occur; (ii) only subject demotion occurs; (iii) only object promotion occurs; and (iv) neither subject demotion nor object promotion occurs but passive morphology is involved, demonstrating that they are all attested in Japanese. I argue that free Merge allows the Japanese passive morpheme ( r ) are to be externally merged with main V, little v, or [V-v] that is also created by External Merge, yielding V-( r ) are , v-( r ) are , and [V-v]-( r ) are , respectively, with the result that the external θ-role is absorbed in V-( r ) are , accusative Case is absorbed in v-( r ) are , and both of them are absorbed in [V-v]-( r ) are . I also show that ( r ) are can occur as a main verb, inducing neither subject demotion nor object promotion, but the passive sense may be expressed via assignment of an affectee θ-role to the surface subject. The analysis proposed here opens up new possibilities for unifying ways of generating the so-called non-canonical passives observed in various languages.